Mediocre
by vanillalovescnjonghyun
Summary: I love you... But you're something big... and I'm not... Sorry... ShikaIno InoShika R&R please


**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. **

**A/N: This is my 2nd ShikaIno fic. This is specially dedicated to dk-joy, who asked for more ShikaIno stuff, and also to ebonyS2, Godsbane, Hikari-03, and to the rest as well. One note though, this is neither prequel nor sequel to my other story, namely Waiting to Save Your Life. It has no connection with it whatsoever. Just so you know. Thanks.**

**Mediocre**

He always found it hard to reach her. Sure, she was there, only a stone's throw away, but still, no matter how far he tried to throw the stone, it can't seem to reach her. Yeah. That's how impossible she seemed to be, for him. She was always within the crowd, while he stood a distance away, watching her from afar. In fact, loving her from afar.

He had caught himself constantly thinking about her during the nights sleep has failed to visit him, and found himself waking up in the wee hours of the morning, when the clear dewdrops had fallen, her smile still vivid in his mind.

His being a chuunin tore him apart from her even more, though he never really thought she cared, or that the distance mattered to her, or even, if he really did matter to her at all.

Well, actually, he did feel that he mattered to her, remembering that time on the latter part of the Chuunin exams, how loud she had cheered for him on the stands. But reality bites. If Uchiha Sasuke had been there, would she still be able to mutter those cheers like, "Go, Shika! You can do it, Shika!"? Not likely. He knew her too well.

And speaking of knowing her too well, they had known each other like, since birth. Their fathers, along with Chouji's father, had been the best of friends, and belonged in the same group back then, and knew that their offsprings would soon be, too.

He had remebered back when they were four or five, when the two families, the Yamanaka and Nara, respectively, had had a simple get-together. More likely, they had been there to, of course, know what has been going on with their lives since their bachelor years, and well, to see how much their little babies had grown.

Inoshi had bragged about how his "little princess" had grown into a lovely young girl, with matching wits as well.

Shikaku, on the other hand, had really nothing to brag about, since his son did nothing extraordinary other than sleep the whole day and yawn five times consecutively.

Young Ino had then approached the young Nara, who had then been pretending to sleep in his mother's lap, just because he found the get-together too boring and, well, troublesome.

She had patted him on the shoulder then, ordering him to come and play with her.

Shikamaru shook his head in disagreement, angering the bossy Ino. She had been spoiled too much by her parents, particularly her father, and she was not used to being disagreed with, since most kids her age just did what she wanted, because that was the easiest way to escape from her grudges.

Ino was fired up by Shikamaru's disagreement so she screamed at his ear, "COME ON, YOU LAZY KID! PLAY WITH ME!"

The young boy was jerked alive by her loud statements, hurting his then very sensitive ears, so he agreed.

"Okay. _Mendoukuse_."

This had made little Ino very happy indeed. And since then, she was able to boss poor Shikamaru all his life.

Young Shikamaru had then grown a very messy long black hair, refusing his mother's attempts to cut it, since he believed it was too troublesome. So he kept it long, that in time, it had covered portions of his face.

Ino noticed this, and pissed her off. So one day, while they were playing in the Naras' backyard, young Yamanaka strode over to her playmate and started tugging at his hair.

"Ow! Stop that! What are you doing!" he cried in agony.

Young Ino did not budge.

"I'm bothered by your hair. So I'm doing something about it."

"Ow! What?"

Finally, the young girl had stopped whatever it was she was doing to Shikamaru's poor hair.

"There," she smiled proudly. She handed him a mirror and told him to look at his hair.

He looked at the bunch on top of his head. It looked like a pineapple, with little wisps of hair sticking out at every direction.

"It looks better, doesn't it?" Ino said proudly.

Young Shika scowled.

"It hurts."

Ahh, the beauty of sweet childhood memories. These flashbacks had always left a smile on Shikamaru's lips, as he recalled the times that he and Ino were young, stupid and carefree, with no responsibilities whatsoever. Just them, and the calm world revolving around them.

As he stared up at the clouds, he pondered on what they are now. He, a young chuunin and one of Konoha's best strategist; she, a skilled and lovely young woman, not to mention, still infatuated with the Uchiha boy, who could care less about her.

He sighed. It's such a shame that such a special girl like her should go around chasing a guy who would never, ever, look at her the way she looked at him. To her, he was everything; to him, she meant nothing. His heart burned in agony for her everytime Sasuke would frankly and plainly throw Ino's affections, not really caring about how much it would hurt her. He had seen her cry at those instances, crying so quietly, crying deep inside, so no one would see. And it hurt.

He knew how much that hurt, of course, since his and Ino's situation were far from being different. She felt that way towards Sasuke, while he, Shikamaru, to Ino.

So deep were his thoughts that he hardly noticed a slender figure plop down on the grass beside him.

"Shika…"

The moment that soft voice reached his ears, a warmth crept up his body, sending butterflies in his stomach. He turned his head to the owner of the voice. A voice he knew too well.

"I-Ino."

Ino had her knees folded in front of her chest, her chin resting on them, and her arms embracing them. Her hair brushed softly along the wind as a gentle breeze passed by.

Almost so unexpectedly, his fingers reached out to touch the pale blonde hair strands. He sighed.

"What happened, Ino?"

Ino bit her lip. Then she began to sob quietly. The clear crystals that ran down her cheeks seem to burn beneath her skin.

"Shika, I…"

She stopped in mid-sentence, choking back her strangled sobs.

But he knew everything even before she could try and explain. Shikamaru was, after all, a genius.

"Sasuke… he rejected you again, didn't he?"

She nodded silently.

He placed a strong arm around her shoulder, sending a warmth throughout Ino's small body. He gently pulled her close to him, so her body was leaning unto his chest. She could feel every gasp of air moving in and out of his chest cavity, and his voice, a rather well-defined deep rumble.

"Ino, you should stop this, right now. I know that you know, deep in your heart, he will never love you back."

His words hit her like some monster gnawing at her bones; it hurt. Reality bites, after all.

"Stop this, Ino… I don't want you to get hurt…"

His hand stroked her hair gently before letting her head rest on his shoulders. Her nose had nuzzled at his cheek, and he could almost feel her breath as his own.

She had stopped crying, for some reason, and had begun to fall into a light slumber, her arms clutching at his. Her head dropped a little, hair falling in front of her face.

Shikamaru tucked the stray strands behind her ear, planted a soft kiss on her forehead and spoke his eternal words of love, filling up her soul with passion and love.

"I love you, Ino… But you're something big… and I'm not… Sorry…"

A soft breeze brushed upon them, a bird nestled on the branch of a tree nearby. Suddenly everything began to quiet down, the world had decided to stop turning for a while. Even the birds seem to be listening to him as he said…

"But still… I will always be loving you… no matter what happens… Remember that…"

The golden leaves that had fallen from the trees began to dance by the riverbed. The birds chirped happily, as if rejoicing at his very words. The sound of the river's water flowing flushed in so calmly, and the clouds drifted by lightly. The breeze had once again returned, giving life to everything surrounding the two lovers. The world continued to turn.

Ino opened her eyes, looked up at Shikamaru and smiled.

"I love you, too, Shika… I have loved you all along…"

He smiled, as she went back into her sleep, her heart forever resting in his.

Mediocre. Average. Typical.

Special. Extraordinary. Impossible.

But in love, there is no such thing as that. In reality, when love comes along, it can touch the heart of anyone, no matter who that person is. Love binds the impossible with the possible, after all.

A/N: AUGHH! Sorry if it was too mushy! It's just that I've been infected with the I-can't-live-without-ShikaIno Syndrome, and I can't help it.

**Let me know what you think.**

**Or maybe not.**

**Well, hope you enjoyed.**

**Ja!**


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